From A Sparkling Diamond
by Ryann James
Summary: Before Christian met Satine, another Diamond ruled the night sky. She would be the one to save the Moulin Rouge
1. Chapter 1: Prelude

**From A Sparkling Diamond**

**Chapter One**

            I was destined for greatness. My mother always told me that. Then again, one would have to use the term "mother" very loosely. The woman who gave birth to me, is better. But regardless of what she was, I was to be great.

            I had beauty, grace, and talent. I was a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge. I was Zidler's favorite. Men became toys that I played with. Love was just game. A game that I played very well. I was the star of the night. When the sun set, I ruled the Underworld of Monmarte. 

            Well that was until a scrawny little "strawberry" came along. I became just another face in the crowd, but I would be the one to save the Moulin Rouge.

My story starts only a couple months before Christian came into our world. The Moulin Rouge had just become the next best thing since sliced bread. I had brought the gentlemen in and kept them there.

 Zidler knows he couldn't of done it without me. Of course I realize this sounds kinda heady and egotistical, but without a main attraction, one that actually delivered after the show, there was no way to keep the gentlemen from coming in. Nothing from getting the gents to spend their money. No way to get these guys to bring in their friends and colleagues.

 For I, Sakari, with my enchanting sapphire eyes, full figure, long auburn hair and full lips, was the Sparkling Diamond.


	2. Chapter 2: "Underneath Your Clothes"

**From A Sparkling Diamond**

**Chapter Two**

            Touluse and Audrey had just finished up a new show. The last one was decent enough. This one though, was to catch the True Bohemian spirit of : Freedom, Truth, Beauty and Love.  Yet before anything could be done a investor had to be found.

            It was set in Switzerland and Audrey was demanding that we have appropriate costumes. *sigh* All these silly costumes. How was anyone to really sing with all these tight corsets? I know I had already damaged a few ribs while 

            But regardless, the show must go on. Even a few bruised ribs wouldn't stop me. That night I got dressed into a new costume that had just been finished. Black lace over ivory satin bodice, with small diamonds every couple of centimeters. The black lace flowed down in the back, short in front, ,so that I could move around. My face was painted up as usual. Bright red lips, blushing cheeks, and outlined dark eyes. My hair was pulled into small knots and pinned, which made it look like a disaster, but that was the designers intention. I was the hoar who showed in all off.

The show was to start soon,  which means the gentlemen would be coming in soon. I was hoisted up on top of a small swing to the ceiling to wait.

Soon I would come down slowly as I would start to sing.

First softly. Black glitter would fall all around me down to the floor.

("Underneath Your Clothes" by Shakira)

_"You're a song   
Written by the hands of god  
Don't get me wrong cause   
__This might sound to you a bit odd  
But you own the place  
Where all my thoughts go hiding  
And right under your clothes  
Is where I find them"_

Then to be swung around, falling closer and closer to the gents. The music would get louder as would my singing. I would finally end up on the ground amongst the penguins, all dressed in their black & white tuxes. Hopelessly tempting them. Pressing myself up against them. Slowly selling them my body.

_"Underneath Your Clothes  
There's an endless story   
There's the man I chose   
There's my territory  
And all the things I deserve  
For being such a good girl honey"_

The night would continue with more madness. Dancing, temptation, love. But that night would be different.


	3. Chapter 3: "More Than They Have Planned"

**From A Sparkling Diamond**

**Chapter Three**

            It was now the early hours of the morning. The past night's show had gone perfectly and the Moulin Rouge girls earned their keep that night. That had included me.

The gentleman that had graced me with his presence was still asleep, so I threw on my long cotton robe and walked out. I knew I was destined to be great, but there had to be something more out there. 

("Belle Reprise" from Beauty and the Beast)
    
    _"Madame Karrie"-- can't you just see it?_
    
    _"Madame Karrie"—in "love""._
    
    _No sir, not me! I guarantee it. *sarcasm*_
    
    _I want much more than this provincial life!_
    
    _I want adventure in the great wide somewhere._
    
    _I want it more than I can tell._
    
    _And for once it might be grand,_
    
    _to have someone understand._
    
    _I want so much more than they've got planned..._

            Just then the door to backstage opened. It was Zidler. "Sakari, I need your help." He walked in, followed by Chocolat carrying a figure of a girl. She was put down on a sofa. 

            "This is Satine. I found her on our doorsteps." I looked at this poor girl. Her eyes were sunken in, cheek bones were jaunting out, and bruises that covered her face and arms. Her hair had been chopped off very short and was stringy. She would never be a Moulin Rouge dancer.

            "I want you to teach her the ropes. The basics. And with Marie's help get her better. She could turn to be valuable asset to the Moulin Rouge." I was shocked, but agreed none the less.

            And so we brought Satine into the folds of Monmarte, the Underworld and the Moulin Rouge.


	4. Chapter 4: "Complainte de la Butte"

**From A Sparkling Diamond**

**Chapter Four**

            And so I began to teach Satine the ropes. She mostly helped out back stage, preparing and sewing costumes. She actually started looking healthier as the weeks past. The bruises disappeared and her tresses began to grow back.

I continued to dream of a better life, but for now I had to continue my work. Zidler never did find an investor to put on Audrey's show. It would have been good though. And so Audrey went back to work to re-vamp it. Change the words. Or so I was told. 

Weeks soon passed and the work never seemed to end. New costumes, new music, new techniques. A girl can get tired from all the work this "job" required.

Satine began to work the floor one night a week as a can-can dancer as she progressed in her health. Zidler knew that she would have to become parrt of the crew. From the Underworld, there can be no escape. As soon as  She started she was  a hit. Zidler picked up on it right away. She soon became his pet and slowly I was gone from the center stage. It seemed that my 15 minutes of fame were up. I was slowly moved off the floor and joined the rest of my fellow can-can dancers. They seemed to enjoy the fact that I was no longer the main attraction and constantly mocked me because  of it, but it didn't matter. Not any more.

I kept telling myself that this was just a way to make a living until something better comes along. Without it I was just another whore on the street, but here I was a Moulin Rouge dancer. I was wanted just because of that. And letting Satine take the floor was allowing me to stay alive. 

( "La Butte" from Moulin Rouge)

_"La lune trop bleme pose un diademe sur tes cheveux roux _

_La lune trop rousse de gloire eclabousse ton jupon plein d'trous _

_La lune trop pale caresse l'opale de tes yeux blases _

_Princesse__ de la rue soit la bienvenue dans mon coeur brise _

_The stairways up to la butte _

_Can make the wretched sigh _

_While windmill wings of the moulin _

_shelter you and I _

_Petite mandigotte je sens ta menotte qui cherche ma main _

_Je__ sens ta poitrine et ta taille fine _

_J'oublie__ mon chagrin _

_Je__ sens sur tes levres une odeur de fievre de gosse mal nourri _

_Et sous ta caresse je sens une ivresse qui m'aneantit _

_The stairways up to la butte _

_Can make the wretched sigh _

_While windmill wings of the moulin _

_shelter you and I _

_Et voila qu'elle trotte la lune qui flotte, la princesse aussi _

_La da da da da da da da da da _

_Mes__ reves epanouis _

_Les escaliers de la butte sont durs aux misereux _

_Les ailes du moulin protegent les amoureux"_

This was us. The girls of the Moulin Rouge. Sheltered by the windmill. Doing what we had to, to scratch out an existence. 


	5. Chapter 5: Hello Christain

****

From A Sparkling Diamond

Chapter Five

Days turned quickly into weeks and Satine had caught herself in the web of the Underworld, of Monmarte. She was now officially the star of the Moulin Rouge. Men would come from miles around to see the "straw-bry". It was kinda a relief not having the weight of the windmill on my shoulders. It allowed me to adventure out of Monmarte and into Paris. I would travel into bookstores and cafes, museums and gardens, stores and monuments. That fateful day I was to pick up more fabric for new costumes. That one trip into Paris would change all our lives forever.

I arrived in Paris late morning and it didn't take to long for the fabric to be picked up. I wandered into a small café to grab a cup of coffee. A young man was sitting in a corner scribbling on a piece of newspaper. Very attractive I might add. Being the bold woman I am, I asked if I might be able to join him.

"Please do," he said, I introduced myself and sat down. He introduced himself as just a writer from Britain hoping to be swept up in the Bohemian Revolution. I smiled. He was so naïve about it. About life. He didn't realize that once he was brought into the folds of Monmarte, it was impossible to escape. Between the drugs, the sex and the ecstasy of it was so tantalizing to the senses, that nothing else compared.

We say and talked for about an hour. He told me that he was now a penniless writer and was looking for someplace to live. I joked and said "There's always the Elephant." Poor boy, didn't understand. I told him to disregard the comment, but that I was a dancer at the Moulin Rouge and that I might be able to help him. His eyes just lit up. "If I help you though, you have to promise me something." "Anything," he replied. "You can't fall in love with anyone in Monmarte." "But life with out love, that's impossible. Love is like oxygen. Love lifts us up. All you need is love." I had to stop him. Love, a principle of the Bohemian Revolution, was forbidden to all those whose lives were rooted within Monmarte. Love would destroy us all. I gentle placed my finger on his lips. "Please. No more. Deal or no deal?" Being that he was now penniless and currently friendless, he didn't have much of a choice.

I took him to see Marie. She set him up in the L'Amour. The one empty room, was no longer empty now. And with that single kind act I had almost brought the entire destruction of the Moulin Rouge.


	6. Chapter 6: "Nature Boy"

****

From A Sparkling Diamond

Chapter Six

(Nature Boy- Moulin Rouge)

__

There was a boy  
A very strange enchanted boy  
They say he wandered very far, very far  
Over land and sea  
A little shy and sad of eye  
But very wise was he  
  
And then one day  
A magic day he passed my way  
And while we spoke of many things  
Fools and kings  
This he said to me  
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn  
Is just to love and be loved in return"  
  
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn  
Is just to love and be loved in return"

And so Christian was brought into the Bohemian Revolution. It didn't take him long to meet Toulouse and Audrey. Audrey obviously didn't take too kindly to him and was quickly packing off to London. 

Toulouse truly believed that the young Christian was the embodiment of all the Bohemian ideals. He believed Truth, Beauty, Freedom and above all else, Love. I knew that he was a strong believer in love. If only I could believe in Love as much as him. If only. Maybe then I wouldn't be so skeptical about it. As far as I was concerned, my love, or body for that matter, could only be bought. There was a price tag for anything. And being a dancer with the Moulin Rouge, there was barely enough money to survive. 

Toulouse contacted me two days after I had wandered into Paris. "Madame 'arrie, I 'ave someone Satine needs to meet. He's very talented. Could even be able to 'ring an investor to the Moulin Rouge." And so my good deed would not go unpaid. I made the arrangements for Christian to meet Satine and sell her his ideas. The only way was after a show in the Elephant. Otherwise there was no way. And a show at the Moulin Rouge would bring us all enough money to start a new life. A new life away from here.


	7. Chapter 7: "Creole Lady Marmalade"

****

From A Sparkling Diamond

Chapter Seven

Over a glass of Absinthe, Toulouse told Christian more about the Moulin Rouge, Zidler and of course, his sparkling diamond, Satine. Of course Christian agreed. How could he not?

That very evening, Toulouse, Christian and the crew were at the Moulin Rouge. I spotted them the minute they walked in the door. That night seemed perfect, for we had just opened with a new dance sequence and Satine with a new number. It seemed perfect, but then again nothing in Monmarte is what it seems.

(Lady Marmalade- Lil Kim, Pink, Christina Agularia, Mya)

__

Lil' Kim:  
Where's all my soul sisters  
Let me hear y'all flow sisters  
  
Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, flow sister  
Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister  
  
Mya:  
He met Marmalade down in old Moulin Rouge  
Strutting her stuff on the street  
She said, hello, hey Joe  
You wanna give it a go, oh  
  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da (hey hey hey)  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya here (here oh)  
Mocca chocolata ya ya (ooh yeah)  
Creole Lady Marmalade (ohh)  
  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir (oh oh)  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (yeah yeah yeah yeah)  
  
Pink:  
He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up  
Boy drank all that magnolia wine  
On her black satin sheets  
Is where he started to freak, yeah  
_  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da (da da yeah)  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya here (ooh yeah yeah)  
Mocca chocolata ya ya (yeah, yeah)  
Creole Lady Marmalade, uh  
  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir (ce soir)  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ooh)  
  
Lil' Kim:  
Yeah, yeah, aw  
We come through with the money and the garter belts  
Let 'em know we 'bout that cake, straight out the gate  
We independent women, some mistake us for whores  
I'm saying, why spend mine when I can spend yours_  
Disagree, well that's you and I'm sorry  
_I'ma keep playing these cats out like Atari  
Wear high heeled shoes, getting love from the dudes  
Four bad ass chicks from the Moulin Rouge  
Hey sisters, soul sisters  
Betta' get that dough sisters  
We drink wine with diamonds in the glass  
By the case, the meaning of expensive taste  
We wanna gitchi gitchi ya ya (come on)  
Mocca chocolata (what)  
Creole Lady Marmalade  
  
One more time, come on now  
  
Marmalade (ooh)  
Lady Marmalade (ooh yeah)  
Marmalade (no ohh)_  
  
_Christina:  
Hey, hey, hey  
Touch of her skin feeling silky smooth, oh  
Color of cafe au lait, alright  
Made the savage beast inside  
Roar until he cried  
  
More, more, more  
  
Pink:  
Now he's back home doing nine to five (nine to five)  
  
Mya:  
Living a gray flannel life  
Christina:  
But when he turns off to sleep, bad memories keep  
  
More, more, more  
  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da (da da)  
Gitchi gitchi ya ya here (ohh)  
Mocca chocolata ya ya (ooh)  
Creole Lady Marmalade  
  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir (ce soir)  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (all my sisters, yeah)  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir (ce soir)  
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ohh)  
  
Creole Lady Marmalade, ooh yes_

After a visual taste of what was to come that evening, Toulouse found me and the plans were made. Christain was to meet Satine after her number inside the elephant. Little did I, Toulouse, or Christain for that matter, know that someone else was to meet Satine that evening. An investor for the new show. That would be, Spectacular, Spectacular, the show that Zidler had been trying to sell for months. Satine, who wanted to be an actress, was also being sold in the process. Zidler knew this, but had to keep the Moulin Rouge alive somehow. So while I was meeting with Toulouse, Zidler was meeting with the Duke. The new investor. The one who was to change all our lives. That he would do.


End file.
